Fun facts
Funny references in the game. This page may contain spoilers. Gaelic * In one of the early pirates missions there's a ship you need to capture named "Pogue mahone". This is Gaelic for: "Kiss my arse". "Pogue Mahone" was also the orginal name of Irish band 'The Pogues' until their label forced a change. Star Wars * At the end of the mission "Just in Time", you're back in your cabin. You've captured the Ambassador and his crew. You're questioning part of the crew, there's a dialog option: "If this is a Consular ship, then where is the Ambassador!". Which is a reference to the Star Wars opening battle after the Empire captures Princess Leia's Consular ship. * Another likely Star Wars reference - in Port Royal, Shelia Barylett offeres a mission called 'Blue Harvest' (not sure of mission level, but it appeared for my level 30 Free Trader), which was the fake name used during the production of the first Star Wars movie to disguise the genuine title of the film. * After you've been rescued at the end of Falling to Pieces, there's a final bit where you're in your cabin and have to talk to your ship's surgeon. He tells you that he had to amputate your leg and fit you with a prostetic. One of the dialog options at this point is "NOOOOOOoooooooooo!!". This is another Star Wars reference (end of episode 3). Cast Away * Still during the mission Falling to Pieces you find yourself marooned on a small island. There's already a cast-away there, and his name is Wilson. This is very probably a reference to the movie "Cast Away" with Tom Hanks. Peter Pan * Falling to Pieces the Third: you will have to fight a Giant Saltwater Crocodile (a very tough lvl 15 Boss). Now consider that this is the mission where you lose a leg and gain a pegleg instead. This brings to mind the fate of a certain Captain Hook... :) * The Lost Boy is a mission in the RP storyline with a title referencing Peter Pan and/or the movie "The Lost Boys." Also, this quest is to find a character named "Kiefer Northlund" - a possible pun on the fact that Kiefer Sutherland played "David" in the movie. Musical References * During the naval officer mission Captain by Courtesy, the conversation between the player and the Naval Officer leads to the question of why you are interested in the navy. One of the text responses reads, "I hear that in the navy, you can sail the seven seas!" This is probably a reference to the famous song "In the Navy" by The Village People. * The mission Love is a Battlefield is a reference to the song of the same title popularized by Pat Benatar. * The mission Sympathy for the Demons is very likely a reference to the Rolling Stones song "Sympathy for the Devil" Latin Quote * At the end of Get a Clue quest, one of the scholars says that their mentor always told them "Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur". Which means, "Anything in Latin sounds profound." * Another latin quote their mentor always told them: "Quem di diligunt adulescens moritur" - "He whom the gods love dies young" The X-Files * In the spanish port of Cartagena there's a french NPC by the name of Danielle Scoulliard (think about it for a bit...). She's investigating a series of rather strange occurrences, but refuses to see anything supernatural about it. Because as she puts it: "The human mind naturally seeks meaningful patterns and configurations in things that don't inherently have any. Or so I've heard." * All of her missions are direct references to a specific episode of the X-Files: Beyond the Sea, Lazarus and The List * She is also mentioning a colleague of hers stationed in Santo Domingo that is working on very similar cases. I haven't been there yet, but I think I have a pretty good idea how his name could sound... The Simpsons *The Magistrate's Commendation has the following information in the summary: "Magistrates award this to Captains who show outstanding achievement in the field of excellence", the same award Homer Simpson wins in the episode "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?". *The Naval Officer mission "The Dreaded Rear Admiral" is named after a line in the Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror IV", where Milhouse says "No way, Bart. If I lean over, I leave myself open to wedgies, wet willies, or even the dreaded rear admiral!". Shaun Of The Dead *The "Strong Drink" mission in Villa Hermosa ends with the NPC saying "You appear to have some red on you". This is very similar to a oft-repeated line in the movie Shaun of the Dead, "You've got red on you". Dune *During the Economy Tutorial early on in the game, you meet a character that utters the line "The goods must flow", which is a reference to Frank Herbert's Dune in which the phrase "The spice must flow" appears regularly. South Park *During the mission "Unforseen Cargo", when you threaten the leader of the French mutineers, one of the mutineers named Remi Laroche will say, "I'll take care of him" and proceeds to attack you. When you kill him, the leader yells, "Oh my god, you killed Remi!", followed by "You bastard!". *When you turn in the mission "World of War!", the bartender asks you "Did you save the World... of War! cards?" The dramatic pause is reminiscent of the line from the South Park "World of Warcraft" episode: "This could be the end of the World... of Warcraft." Robocop *The mission title "Guns, Guns, Guns" is a direct quote from the movie Robocop when Clarence Bodicker attempts to strong arm a fellow drug dealer. Hornblower *In the level 25 Naval Officer career mission, "The Examination for Lieutenant", you are asked the same question Horatio Hornblower fails to answer in Forester's "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower". "The Examination For Lieutenant" is also the title of a Hornblower movie. Goonies *As a reward for a low level mission (the pirate career mission We Accept You) you receive a pistol named One-Eyed William. When mousing over the item the text "Say hello, Willie", can be seen. This is a quote from Mikey from the 1985 movie "The Goonies". One-Eyed Willie is the fictional, long-dead, pirate who hid a ship full of "rich stuff" in a heavily trapped cave. The discovery of One Eye-Willie's map to the treasure ship is what prompts the Goonies entire adventure, which is the basis of the entire movie. Star Trek *In the mission "Love is a Battlefield," when you speak to the Jailor, one of the options you have is "Is that a red shirt you're wearing? You've got no chance at all." This is a reference to the fact that in the original Star Trek, all security personnel wear red shirts, and whenever a security officer that has never been on the show before goes on a mission, that new security officer tends to die. *The Mission "Chain of Command", where you interrogate a prisoner, is named, and is the same situation as the Star Trek episode also named "Chain Of Command". At the end of the mission, the prisoner says "THERE.... ARE.... FOUR.... LAMPS" the same way that picard said "There are four lights", although the situation is switched as Picard was stating the truth, whilst the Prisoner has been broken. Robin Hood *In the mission Grand Turk, when you speak to Stephanus van Meel in the company office, he tells you that a character is "not the Robin of Locksley these simpletons proclaim him to be." Fresh Prince of Bel Air *In the mission Quarantine, the first character is named Willem Schmilder (close name to Will Smith). In one line of text, Willem tells about how he met pirates on the beach, and when he told his mom, she "got scared. She said, 'You're moving in with your auntie and uncle in Bonaire!'" This is almost an exact quote from the theme song of the show. Balboa *In Carbaneras, there is an NPC called Morgan Balboa, who, when you talk to him, tells you "Yes, my name is Balboa. No, he was no relation." Now while some people might take this as a nod to the movie character Rocky Balboa, given the game's setting it's far more likely (although probably intentionally ambiguous) that he talks about the famous explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, who was the first European to cross the Isthmus of Panama and see the Pacific Ocean from the American continent. Terminator *In Gold Rushed, when you speak to one of the miners you're rescuing, a chat option is "Come with me if you want to live." This is the phrase said by several of the robots in Terminator who were sent back to help protect Sarah or John Conner. Patrick O'Brian * The inn in Port Royal is named The Grapes, which is where Stephen Maturin has his London lodgings in the Aubrey/Maturin series by O'Brian. They Live * In the mission Mano y Mano (in which you fight a duel against the dirty fighting master), your opponent greets you with the words "I came here to kick fundament an' drink rum -- and I be all outta rum!". This is a variation on the quote "I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum - and I'm all out of bubblegum" from the movie They Live (this phrase was later also used in Duke Nukem 3D, which was itself a reference to this movie) * your character's reply to this is "Aye, is that so? Well, your mother's so fat, when she sits around the poopdeck, she sits AROUND the poopdeck!"